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Where Kosher Beckons the Cool Crowd

By Elisa Mala May 5, 2010 4:05 pmMay 5, 2010 4:05 pm

Robert Caplin for The New York TimesJamie-Lynn Sigler and some friends at the opening of Prime KO on Tuesday.

Imagine kashrut — Jewish dietary law — as a kid in an elementary school. It would probably take on the role of hall monitor, enforcing restrictive rules that may or may not be important to the authorities: Sayonara, shrimp! Ciao, cheeseburgers! And for the love of G-d, stay away from pork!

Perhaps that is why kosher restaurants are not exactly homecoming queens at the culinary prom: they’re more about substance — and strict adherence to religious laws — than style.

Not so at Prime KO, a new Japanese steakhouse and sushi joint where kosher aspires to cool. At Tuesday’s opening night celebration, the dual-level restaurant, at West 85th Street and Broadway was a sea of crisp suits and towering stilettos, a rainbow of yarmulkes and a gathering for the most popular kids on the block.

Heads and shoulders above the sleek crowd was the athlete, Serge Ibaka, the 6-foot-10 center for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The front-runner for class president? Michael S. Miller, chief executive of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, who greeted friends at every turn and offered a pithy remark: “The ingredients are here to ensure success beyond their expectations.”

The It Girl: Jamie-Lynn Sigler, a star of “The Sopranos,” former Hebrew school attendee and alumna of Taglit-Birthright Israel, an organization that sponsors trips to the Holy Land for young Jewish adults. “I was inspired on every level,” she said of her time there.

Below the dining room where Ms. Sigler held court with family and friends, sushi rolled out, though none with crab, shrimp or eel. Wine flowed like Jay-Z in “Empire State of Mind” and Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance,” which blasted through the speakers.

In a place where the glatt is the new hot, why couldn’t Gaga replace the hora?

gag me. cool crowd? “sea of crisp suits and towering stilettos” don’t know where elisa mala grew up, but i am yet to see a cool man in a crisp suit or a cool woman in stilettos. but then, it is 85 and Bwy, not the East Village or a gazillion other places. nothing wrong with shamelessly promoting a restaurant, but at least use a reasonable title, ok?

How about, “Where Kosher beckons the straight crowd” ? and if you are old enough you will know that here straight doesn’t imply hetrosexuality, rather the opposite of cool.
Ya know, the guys who still had short hair in 1969.

For the record, Dennis, Mr. “self hating jew” who “doesn’t get it” sushi is extraordinary popular in the frum community: frequently replacing white fish or gefilte as the Friday night appetizer.

Obviously this is distressing to the tortured, neurotic, New York City stereotype liberal where Judaism means cussing in hoch deutch, eating treif eastern european delicacies and supporting the Democratic Party. But thank G-d that “Judaism” is dying off.

The future of Judaism in New York City and the United States is going to be almost exclusively Orthodox.

To #8. That is if you think the definition of Judaism is only valid from the Orthodox perspective. The overwhelming majority of our ancestors did not come to these blessed shores to create another ghetto. Those Jews, and others who look at the Hasids, and their ilk, and think how can I be a Jew, or is that what the Jews are about, if that is what they are, indicate that in reality they are clueless about the history and character of Judaism. To most of us, the Orthodox, never defined Judaism and never will. G-d, the free will G-d gave us, and the way in which we live our lives will determine that. As for the fish, as we all know, if it has fins, it’s always kosher, cooked well, or not! And if you would excuse the expression, the shrimp, ain’t bad, either!

“I do not understand why food reporters employed by the New York Times continue to express surprise whenever they encounter artfully prepared kosher food. You’re in NYC, I feel like shouting. Why haven’t you realized yet that kosher wine isn’t syrupy sweet, and that there are cuts to enjoy other than brisket? Why does a reference to the hora almost always sneak into your reporting? When you write about India, are elephants always mentioned?” – Dovbear

I’d like to add: fine kosher dining is nothing exceptional. The author shows massive ignorance of Jewish culture, and even more massive ignorance of Orthodox Jewish culture.

Every restaurant blog post can be called an ad. Why so much anger over a kosher one? Kosher is a dietary choice just like vegetarianism. I don’t think you’d see this kind of attitude spewed over a restaurant with a different cuisine. You do not have to live in a shtetl to keep kosher. Why do you think it’s ok to make that shylock type of comment? It’s ignorant and discriminatory to say that anyone who keeps kosher should go back to the shtetl. So an observant Jew has to live in isolation from the rest of society? Is your only reference of observant Judaism hasidism? Jews have been keeping kosher for thousands of years- the dishes change depending on the region and local culture. There are hundreds of kosher restaurants in this country and hardly any of them serve eastern european food. Why the stereotyping?

And the UWS crowd dresses far better than a lot of other slobs in this City so not sure where that self righteous attitude and stereotyping comes from. Continue to enjoy your Mc Donalds- its super cool and has premier cuisine. Why dont’ you take your angry out where it belongs- on your parents who obviously raised you to be dysfunctional haters.

for #8, Barry. As you may know wearing a kippah is a minhag and not a mitzvah, and dressing like a medieval German burger, as many frum do, has about as much to do with Judaism as female circumcision has with Islam.

Its wishful thinking on your part, tanks Got, that the future of Yiddishkeit and Judaism, in the world rests with the self described “Orthodox.”

Judaism always has and always will be both multi-cultural and multi-idea’d. The shtetl is very large, and the “orthodox” will never define it for anyone but themselves; there will always be a thousand flowers blooming in Jewish thought and lifestyle. You have no control over that.
Thank Goddes.

To Dyker Park Truthsayer: Do I think “the definition of Judaism is only valid from a Halachic perspective?” Absolutely.

Just look at the failure of Jewish nationalism – a knesset of left-wing antisemites, activists of “The Islamic Movement” and other assorted kooks. The failure of Jewish culture – what’s the rate of intermarriage in the non-frum community? 70%, 80%? The failure of Reform and Conservative – other than worshiping Obama and hearing a weekly sermon about the latest Media Matters for America talking point, what is that liberals actually do at der Tempel?

Long after the Tikun Olam crowd; the Yiddishists; the Zionists; and the holocaust fetishists are dead and buried, Judaism – defined exclusively from a halachic perspective – will still be vibrant and blossoming.

The overwhelming majority of our ancestors did not come to these blessed shores to create another ghetto.

Speak for yourself, white boy. The momentum in American Jewish life are the frum, the Russians, and Sephardim who don’t share your pathological and neurotic hang-ups about needing goyim to love you. Ask RevolutionMuslim, Stephen Walt, or the Jewish community of Malmo to see how successful your secular assimilationist project is going and then get back to me. (On the subject of liberal “Judaism”: Which are you Truthsayer? A righteous one, or a Afrikaaner who may be slaughtered with impunity?)

Sheesh!!!
Viewed from afar, I am writing from Wellington, New Zealand,
most of these comments remind me of a High School food fight.
Why can’t a restaurant food column comments about kosher food be as civil as critiques about Haute Cusine?
Perhaps it is the remarks that add the seasoning!
NOT!!!

definitely not reading the city room blog any longer! not because of the article (which i think opens eyes to a new spin on bland, gag-inducing kosher foods), but because of the immature readership! you all bicker like middle schoolers!

Landsmanite Barry, perhaps. You certainly make a lot of assumptions. Me ferguson, that not only, our overwhelming majority who came here, did not come here to create another E. ghetto, but despite your warnings we non Orthos still represent over 90% of A. Jews, most of us still find nice landsmanettes to behrtothed ( but, it certainly ain’t easy ) and in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s when the demons again were on the march ( as a sidelight to the War ) it was over six hundred thousand mensches, overwhelmingly secular ( including five of my uncles ) and their Christian brothers ( hope that doesn’t upset you! ) who took up arms for our nation ( Yes, despite loving Israel, to the overwhelming majority of us, America’s shores are the promised land!) to end the madness, while most of the frum were davening and hoping for another miracle parting of the Red Sea! As it is said, and what does the Lord require of thee, only to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly, then you will achieve wisdom! ( Something you seem to lack, but then again, our Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winners went to the Public Schools, and not the Yeshivahs, and I’m certainly sure you don’t want me to get into that too!) And, I wouldn’t worry, G-d will sort us all out in the end, anyway. On that note, I shall now enjoy my bagel and lox cuisine, and wish you all a good Shabbos, however you individually define that!

I think it’s great to have a kosher steakhouse in town that even non kosher observers will enjoy. And guess what? Japonais, the absolutely-not-kosher restaurant, also serves steak and sushi. Who makes a big deal out of that? (Generally Jews don’t eat fish and meat off the same plate, but I’m sure that’s no problem at KO Prime.)

But tell me: why does the Times seem to take so much pleasure in getting Jews to fight, or trying to embarrass us in public? Ashamed of their roots, perhaps? Yes, the good German Jews who founded and ran the Times for generations probably never had a kosher meal they enjoyed, but for crying out loud, enough! Almost every article that the Times publishes about American Jews shows us as quaint, not quite fitting in, almost not quite American and unable to get along with each other. To sow dissention among us is a shande. I don’t see them behave this way with other ethnic groups, who may be “cooler” to them know. Many Jews keep kosher, many non-Jews buy kosher food, what is the big deal? Of course, kashrut is not just about what we can’t eat, it’s about what we do eat, and why. Who misses something they’ve never had?

And why do we take the bait? Why can’t we just say, for once, no comment?

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